Submitted photos – Parker Rodgers alongside his family at his recent letter signing ceremony.

By Ray Hamill — Like a good teammate, Hayden Bode came through for Parker Rodgers this year.

The two players have been friends since their time at Eureka High — and even long before that — and this summer they’re playing together for the Humboldt Crabs.

But it won’t end there.

Rodgers, who is coming off two standout years playing at College of the Redwoods, recently committed his future to Division-II Minot State in North Dakota, where he will join Bode, who played a key role in bringing his friend on board after joining the Beavers last year.

“I didn’t really have a lot of looks early in the spring, and then I got their coach’s number from Hayden,” said Rodgers, who reached out to Minot after that. “Hayden talked to me about the coaching staff and how they’re very player oriented and how it’s a good little community out there and how it’s a good group of players. 

“The opportunity (to continue playing), that was the most important thing to me.”

Rodgers can thank his longtime friend for that.

The two players first met when they played against each other in Little League and that friendship carried over into high school and this summer with the Crabs.

And now it’s set to continue when Rodgers joins Bode at Minot.

“I’m pretty excited about that,” Rodgers said. “It will be pretty exciting to be up there with Hayden.”

For now, however, Rodgers has some unfinished business to take care of with the Crabs, who remain in contention for a place in the inaugural Pacific Empire League Championship Series going into the second-to-last weekend of the season.

It has, however, been a challenging summer for the 2021 Eureka High graduate in some ways.

In his first season with the Crabs, Rodgers suffered a hand injury on opening weekend and only returned to the lineup this week.

But that hasn’t dampened his enthusiasm and appreciation for the chance to play for the legendary local club.

“I’m just living the dream,” he said. “As a kid growing up around here and watching the Crabs play, to be able to play with the team, it was awesome.”

It’s not the first injury for Rodgers, who originally committed to play for Butte College out of high school — along with Bode — but never got the opportunity after suffering a season-ending injury and red-shirting his freshman year.

He was cut from the team the following season and opted instead to come home and play for CR, where he had an immediate impact and became an integral part of the Corsairs roster.

This past spring, as a sophomore with the Corsairs, Rodgers continued to establish himself as a key player and batted .280 with 19 walks, each of which was third best on the team.

Rodgers also noticed a big difference on this year’s CR team.

“I loved being able to represent my community,” he said. “We turned it around for sure this year. The attitude we had throughout the season was much better, more team oriented.

“This year we put all of our heads together and moved towards a common goal.” 

That helped Rodgers develop as a player.

“I’ve definitely gotten more respect for the game (while playing at CR),” he said. “Just being able to not take anything for granted and giving it my all, I think that made me a better ball player.”

So too has playing for the Crabs this summer.

Even missing several weeks through injury has not prevented Rodgers from continuing to grow as a player.

“I was able to pick the brains of all of the players and our coaches,” he said. “And being able to talk to them about anything was very insightful.”

Rodgers will leave for North Dakota as soon as the Crabs season ends in what will be the biggest move of his young life.

However, he is excited about the opportunity and feels he is in a better position to do so than when he graduated from high school.

“I’ll definitely be more prepared for it,” he said with a chuckle. “And a little smarter for sure. I’m a little older now.”

He also feels Minot State will be a good situation for him, both as a student and as player.

“It’s definitely a good fit, financially, athletically and academically,” he said.

And while he still has some unfinished business to take care of as a player, Rodgers is also already looking to the future.

He is majoring in History Education and wants to be a teacher.

And that’s not all.

“I want to teach and hopefully coach some ball,” he said.

Last season, the Beavers were 15-34, including a 12-27 mark in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.